Tom Jones

Real Name: Thomas Jones Woodward

Birth Date: 7th June 1940

Birth Place: Pontypridd, Wales

Tom Jones was one of the legendary independent
record producer Joe Meek's 'wannabe's and called himself Tommy
Scott. Despite some initial singles cut at Joe's famous Holloway
studio that were never released, this part of Tom's career drew
little attention at the time. With his group called the Senators,
his style was closer to American rock and roll than it would
become. After returning to Wales, Tom decided to place himself
under the management of fellow Welshman Gordon Mills who up until
then had been a singer with the moderately successful 'Viscounts'.

Even after gaining a contract to record
with Decca things didn't change until the smash hit 'It's Not
Unusual'; a song originally intended for Sandie Shaw, co-written
by Mills with Les Reed. This was the second attempt at the charts
by the renamed singer and his group who had also changed their
name to the 'Squires'. This one single was to forge the path
of his whole career. The style was neither rock and roll, nor
'MOR', but somewhere in between. He could therefore capture record
buyers across a broad spectrum without becoming stereotyped as
belonging to one musical genre or another. This formula worked
well although, like most singers, he gradually pushed himself
nearer to 'MOR', and finally 'country', as his audience matured.

Tom Jones had three EPs released in the UK during the 1960s-
only "On Stage" is particularly easy to find now; with
a sleeve picture showing the singer's back! The most sought after
of the other EPs is "Tom Jones" which- unusually for
an EP bearing the artist's name as its title- is the most difficult
of all to obtain. However, the EP cover displayed here isn't
a UK issue at all, but does have quite a decent picture of the
singer in his youth. This particular issue actually first saw
the light of day in Hong Kong. Judging by the fact that I've
seen this EP on a number of occasions, there must have been quite
a few people in the far east during 1966 who were longing for
the green grass of home.

By the early 1970s, with a huge international
following, Tom moved himself to the USA and spent his time performing
in expensive cabaret venues like those in Las Vegas. He would
spend most of the next twenty years playing this role of international
'Super Star' before returning to the enthusiasm of his original
audience in the UK.

1950s & 1960s 45rpm UK Discography

Listings include UK 45 singles releases
only.

Collector's Items are shown In Red

For EP discography see table below

Decca F11966

1964

Chills And Fever/ Breathless

Decca F12062

1965

It's Not Unusual/ To Wait For Love

#1

Decca F12121

1965

Once Upon A Time/ I Tell The Sea

#32

Decca F12191

1965

With These Hands/ Untrue

#13

Decca F12203

1965

What's New Pussycat/ Rose

#11

Decca F12292

1965

Thunderball/ Key To My Heart

#35

Decca F12315

1966

To Make A Big Man Cry/ I'll Never Give Away Love

Decca F12349

1966

Stop Breaking My Heart/ Never Give Away Love

Decca F12390

1966

Once There Was A Time/ Not Responsible

#18

Decca F12461

1966

This And That/ City Girl

#44

Decca F22511

1966

Green Green Grass Of Home/ If I Had You

#1

Decca F22555

1967

Detroit City/ If I Had You

#8

Decca F12599

1967

Funny Familiar Forgotten Feelings

#7

Decca F12639

1967

I'll Never Fall In Love Again/ Things I Wanna Do

#2

Decca F12693

1967

I'm Coming Home/ The Lonely One

#2

Decca F12747

1968

Delilah/ Smile

#2

Decca F12812

1968

Help Yourself/ Day By Day

#5

Decca F12854

1968

A Minute Of Your Time/ Lokking Out My Window

#14

Decca F12924

1969

Love Me Tonight/ Hide And Seek

#9

Decca F12990

1969

Without Love/ The Man Who Knows Too Much

#10

Columbia DB7566

1965

Little Lonely One/ That's What We'll Do

Columbia DB7733

1965

Lonely Joe/ I Was A Fool

EP Discography

Collector's Items are shown In Red

See Upper List For Singles releases

Decca DFE8617

1965

"On Stage"

#3

Bama Lama Bama Loo/I Can't Stop Loving You/Lucille/Little
By Little

Columbia SEG8464

1966

"Tom Jones"

Lonely Joe/I Was A Fool/Little Lonely One/That's What We'll
Do

Decca DFE8668

1966

"What A Party"

What A Party/Any Day Now/Promise Her Anything/It Aint Gonna
Be That Way